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I recently lost my 14 yo son to suicide, finished up treatment for stage 3 uterine cancer, after finishing recovering from a radical hysterectomy due to the cancer, was homeless for 6 months because i couldnt work during surgery, recovery, and most of my treatment (I did work during the last half of my treatments), and divorced my husband of 23 years.

Believe me when i say, i do NOT want to post this and go thru all the back n forth BS, nor the proving of everything, or listening to Nick lie and make excuses. However, i feel that i really should say something and warn others about his practices and what he did to me....i even saw the other thread on him and thought it was resolved pretty much in his favor and i saw one other good thread, so i thought it might be ok to take a chance on him. i was wrong. i even told him i saw the big, BS forum thread on here about him, but that i was willing to give him a chance....anyway...without further explanation this is what i posted on fb...

I bought 2 skinks from a man i've never had dealings with, before. Seller stated they were 4 years old and had been raised since birth into adulthood by the owner he got them from. in the pic provided, i noticed some buildup/roughened scales on the elbow of the left arm and the "look" on the skink's face and i had a tiny little voice telling me something was off, but the pic still seemed to show a decent looking animal. i thought maybe it was just me being paranoid..... originally, i was going to buy all 4 he had available, but the pic made me a bit jumpy. i decided to buy 2 and then buy the other 2 if everything went well and the animals were in good health and so on. plus, i have a monthly budget i try to stick to and i was getting close to my limit.
I did my research on fauna boi and good guy bad guy review group on fb. the only thing i found was that Fauna had one bad thread that seemed to be resolved in his favor and one good thread. so i went ahead and sent him money and made arrangements for when everything would be sent and so on.

nick informed me they had been eating yogurt and pangae for geckos.

After receiving the skinks i spent the next hour and a half, soaking and then helping them shed. they were hardly able to grasp and hold on. anyone that knows MT skinks, knows just how hard they hold on and will understand why this was especially distressing. i then immediately contacted him. He was "genuinely surprised to find that i was disappointed in them. " He then proceeded to tell me that when the skinks left his place, they were in good condition and reminded that he TOLD me they were in shed and he had been soaking them. He then followed that up with informing me that he had pics and vids of right before they left his facility. Then followed that up with the fact that he wasn't there to argue with me and asked "how can i help you?"
he said he was so sorry i was disappointed in them, then told me the other 2 skinks i had arranged to buy from him, were "flawless," and that i would be more satisfied with them after paying for them and they were sent. i stated that i would still buy the other 2 if he could assure me that absolutely nothing was wrong with them and that i wanted a refund if the 2 skinks i currently have from him were to die in the next couple of days to a week. he did not confirm, nor deny that he would give me a refund if that happened.

After ending comm's with him and after more consideration, i decided i did not want to risk sending more money and getting more sick skinks, so i contacted paypal. when i first sent a deposit on the skinks, i sent them as a "goods and services" payment thinking i wanted to be protected. nick informed me he did not usually take payments as a "goods and services" and that i needed to send the rest of the balance as a "gift for friends and family," and that the deposit being paid as a goods and services payment, that he would "make an exception this time." i informed him that i was uncomfortable doing that as it was unethical, he could lose his business account if he were asking people to avoid paying fees by sending as friends and family and that if this were an issue, to just refund my deposit and we could cancel the sale. he said he would be ok w sending the balance as a "goods and services," payment. however, this was a waste of money, as i contacted paypal over this and their resolution was that i paid for goods and services and those goods arrived, no matter the condition, therefore i am not entitled to a refund.

my whole intent on this post, is to warn that i found out he is a "flipper," whereby he constantly gets animals from trades and deals and then sells them. he also has at least 2 more skinks for sale and i would strongly caution against buying them even though he stated they were flawless. but if you're wanting to baby something that you got at a great price, you may want to save them...maybe he's telling the truth and he hasn't actually laid eyes on these animals and someone else has been taking care of them and was responsible for shipping them out??

...that's the only excuse i can think of, in regards to why he's convinced these animals were just fine to sell and ship....

the above pics are 1.5 hours AFTER i received them and had soaked them and helped remove their shed. i should have taken pics before removing all the stuck shed on them, but i was so horrified at their condition that i immediately started working on them, as soon as i saw them...as i went along, i became more and more heart sick and disgusted over their condition that it finally dawned on me i should start taking pics...Note: upon arrival, it was full body retained shed.....toes, vents covered, etc...LAYERS of it....it was so bad they they stunk of rot from so much shed.

i'm hoping they make it. the largest one did eat on its own, yesterday and i've been giving them .25 mL's of liquefied greens every 3-4 hours, as well as a bit of fruit to add some sugars into the mix. i've also been giving them doses of water, and i've started treating their overall wounds, and infections, using a rub down with helichrysum oil. i'm keeping their cage humid, while still providing a dry area for them to be in....
the smaller is still pooping only water, no urates.
i really hope they make it.

he stated in PMs, that he has had these animals for a year. i blocked him on fb and will not engage in any further comm's w him, as he continued to state that the animals were fine....in one of the PMs we exchanged after i received the skinks, he stated he had had scale rot (on them, or other animals...i'm unclear what he meant exactly in that comment) and maybe that was what i was talking about in regards to how bad their skin is/was....

he SEEMS really nice...and genuinely acted shocked and saddened that i was disappointed in them....but w the other threads i've seen....i wonder. and the thing is....i told him...i'm not mad. i'm very concerned....this whole thing makes me very sad. i did comment that maybe he's just not used to working w monkey tail skinks....

he warned me the day they were being shipped and "on their way," that they both were in "heavy shed" and he had soaked them....that's the only warning or reveal i received from him. nothing about bones sticking out, infections, missing toes, etc....as a matter of fact, he states in his ad (please note the first ad i saw was dated in april and he is insisting he provided current, not dated pics when advertising the 2 skinks) here on fauna "This girl is amazing! She is a beast and will eat whatever we put in her bowl! Amazing animal!" This is the same animal he sold to me as a male, when he found out i was female heavy and needed males.

To be fair, he did NOT guarantee sex and stated he believed they might both be males, but it could be only one male....

My main reason for posting and what i want most of all, is for Nick to understand that these beings have souls...and desires...and want to live happily just as much as any other living being...they should be treated w dignity and kindness....and i don't want others supporting him in his flipping, if he isn't going to treat the animals, better....that's it.

yeah, i'd like the money back....but if i don't get it--i will have to deal with that. BUT, if Nick will learn and grow from this...if he will start being more conscientious and kind towards these beings he holds in his power, then this is worth it, to me...
ya know??

nick did respond to the review on fb, that he had been willing to give me a refund...that he said he was willing to give me a refund, when i contacted him about the animals...that is a complete lie....he kept insisting that he took vids of them eating and how great they were before leaving his place...he kept arguing there was nothing wrong except the stuck shed....if he does indeed have vids and pics, i can guarantee they are either old or not very detailed in regards to showing spine, hips, tail, etc...he then said he wasnt going to argue with me and then asked how he could help.

he also stated in one of the PMs to me, that he had had a paypal account for the past 10 years...that made me wonder...if hes 22, did he get a pp account at 12?

anyway, the system here would only allow me to upload so many pics...if there's another way to upload the screenshots of PMs, please let me know and i will do so.

other issues, are that he has supposedly been informed of possible crypto in his animals and that another fb member has had to destroy her collection, or most of it due to receiving animals from nick AND he has his fb profile pic of him w an arm around ty park, and is identifying some of the animals he's selling as coming from ty park. nothing exactly wrong w that, except it seems an awful lot like he's trying to use ty park's reputation to bolster his rep....ty park should probably be made aware of that....

also, in his responses to others and me, he tries to discredit me, by saying i have used different names and i have a colony of MT skinks and it's mysterious how these 2 skinks he sent, are suddenly sick...

he has also tried to play pitiful by making comments about how he takes care of his animals and my karma is going to get me by falsely reporting to fb groups to "ruin his reputation." this was in response to me telling him i think karma is going to give him some anal love, someday and probably not too far off in the future...

Good post for people to see. I am sorry to hear about your dealings. The upside of this is that hopefully the animals can recover in your care.

This makes me wonder if he takes pictures of the animals or videos if he takes pictures of the best ones and sells the worst ones first.

I had been on the fence about maybe buying an animal from him for a while but like OP I had seen mixed reviews and got the same impression from the BOI in his favor.

I will now not take a chance on his animals unless "somehow" this is proved false (though I doubt it will be) or if he really changes his practices.

I am aware he flips animals and my concern is that he buys them and resells them regardless of the condition. Even if he got fooled by a person he bought from.

Sorry to see the poor skinks and best of luck in life!

This was his response to the review posted on FB...in it, he expresses he doesn't know what a flipper is.....

"Nick Lillis Hello, im just going to start by saying i sent a message regarding a full refund and my sincere apologies. But i was blocked from all contact. If anyone on here had purchased from me has seen my animals they are all very healthy and very well taken care of so dont let this fool you. Also not being rude but what is a flipper exactly? Im not a flipper? I took these in trade and i posted them. Just as everyone else in this hobby does. I sent "Ann" or traci as her PayPal name says numerous pictures as she asked. (pls note-nick only sent the same pics he had advertised back in april, and a couple of vent shots that do NOT look like the animals i received, because there is no shed on them, at all...in the pics he sent) They were taken on the spot and of the same animals they were not "old" pictures. Im not the type to run to a forum with a problem i like to make things right. She told me she was going to take the ONE monkey tail (you can clearly see i am constantly referring to "these guys" and "them" and "they"....not speaking of only one skink, in the PMs I provided) to the vet that wasn't looking good. Then she was going get back to me. Then i was immediately blocked. I had no problem issuing a full refund and taking them to the vet myself if there was truly a problem. It just seemed a little strange that she has a huge colony of monkey tails and now this monkey tail looks terrible (note: is nick trying to redirect and trying to stray from the subject at hand, much?). I deal with alot of animals and ive never had a negative feedback of my animals not looking healthy. My family and i have worked with animals our whole lives. So dont let this post make you think otherwise. Take a look at any of my posts. Everyone of these animals is a pet of mine or a trade someone gave me. Lastly besides the strange two different name situation, she did a chargeback on her credit card after blocking me and not trying to contact me at all so now she has the money and the monkey tails. Is that fair? I dont think so. I will not be keeping updated on this post. If Ann wants to contact me she can unblock me and i will give her the refund without a problem like i was going to and i will make sure the animals are provided the proper care they need if they are really that ill. Hope you all do your research before selling."

i will go without a refund before i will ever send these poor animals back to him.....

speaking of refunds.....we exchanged a few texts where he continues to deny responsibility and continues to ignore my suggestion that he could easily give me the refund he so graciously offered when he replied to the FB group

oh and Bank of America will not refund me because they say PP is responsible and PP says that since i received the "goods" i'm not eligible for a refund, no matter what shape they are in. i did receive 2 emails today, stating that PP had escalated the dispute to a claim...not sure if that makes a difference, or not....

And one thing to note every thread he has the words "I buy animals" and whatnot is always in there. Nothing wrong with reselling if done properly but if the case comes up of him getting injured or I'll animals and not being able to or just simply, not, healing the animals before resell then that is a big problem. And this seems to tip towards that being the case.

PayPal has escalated this dispute to a claim. As part of our investigation,
we reviewed any communication you may have had in the Resolution Center.

Our investigation into your claim is complete. As stated in our User
Agreement, the claims process only applies to the shipment of goods. It
does not apply to complaints about the attributes or quality of goods
received. Therefore, we are unable to reverse this transaction or issue a
refund.

-----------------------------------
What to do next
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Please note: Filing a claim through the Resolution Center will not result
in an inquiry being placed with the creditor of your PayPal Buyer Credit
line. If you wish to request an inquiry into your PayPal Buyer Credit line,
call 1-866-571-3012.

PayPal does not tolerate fraud or illegal activities. Your complaint has
been noted in the record of the PayPal user you reported. If we find this
user has violated our policies, we will investigate and take appropriate
action. If this occurs, you may be contacted in the future about the status
of this complaint.

To make sure future transactions proceed smoothly, we suggest you visit the
PayPal site and click the Security Center link located at the top of any
page. There you will find tips on how to avoid fraudulent sellers in the
"Fraud Prevention Tips for Buyers" section.

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